Venue: Council Chamber, Hove Town Hall. View directions
\n\t\tContact: Tom Hook \n\t\tHead of Scrutiny\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\n\t\tItems\n\t\t\n\n\t\t\tNo.\n\t\t\tItem\n\t\t\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\nMinutes:
\n53 Declarations\nof Substitutes
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Councillor Meadows was substituting as voting\nmember for Councillor Morgan. Councillor Janio was substituting for\nCouncillor Peltzer Dunn. Councillor Taylor was acting as substitute\nfor Councillor Wakefield-Jarrett.
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Councillors Alford and Morgan gave their\napologies
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53b Declarations\nof Interests
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There\nwere none.
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53c Declaration of Party Whip
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There were none.
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53d Exclusion of Press and Public
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In accordance with section 100A(4) of the\nLocal Government Act 1972, it\nwas considered whether the press and public should be\nexcluded from the meeting during the consideration of any items\ncontained in the agenda, having regard to the nature of the\nbusiness to be transacted and the nature of the proceedings and the\nlikelihood as to whether, if members of the press and public were\npresent, there would be disclosure to them of confidential or\nexempt information as defined in section 100I (1) of the said\nAct.
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RESOLVED: That the press and public\nbe not excluded from the meeting.
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Additional documents:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\nMinutes:
\n54. RESOLVED that the minutes of the\nscheduled meeting held on 20 October and the call-in meeting held\non 27 November both be approved and signed by the Chairman.
\nPublic Questions/Letters from Councillors/Notices of Motion Referred from Council
\n\nMinutes:
\n55. There were none.
\nChairman's Communications
\n\nMinutes:
\n56. There were none.
\nTargeted Budget Management (Month 6) 2009 - 2010 PDF 104 KB
\n\nReport of the Director, Finance and\nResources
\nAdditional documents:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\nMinutes:
\n57.1 The Director, Finance and Resources\nintroduced the Targeted Budget Management (Month 6) 2009 –\n2010 report pointing out the improvement in forecast outturn on\nrevenue and capital position as of the end of September compared\nwith Month 4.
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57.2 OSC needed to be assured that key issues\nwithin the TBM report are adequately reflected in the Directorate\nbudget strategies where appropriate.
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57.3 The Director answered specific questions\non overspends in housing strategy and CYPT, area social work teams,\nCollection Fund performance, capital spend and concessionary bus\nfares.
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57.4 RESOLVED: That OSC\nnote the report to 12 November Cabinet and extract from the draft\nminutes.
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Scrutiny of Directorate Budget Strategies PDF 59 KB
\nReport of the Director, Strategy and\nGovernance
\nAdditional documents:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\nMinutes:
\n58.1 The Chairman welcomed\nCabinet Members Councillors Young and Fallon-Khan to the meeting.\nCouncillor Young introduced this item, stating that scrutiny\ncomments would be considered carefully, however Departments had\nlittle flexibility in achieving a balanced budget.
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58.2 Councillor Fallon-Khan\noutlined the service pressures for the Finance and Resources\nDirectorate. Reduced income such as from business rents and\ncommercial rates was largely due to the effects of the\nrecession.
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58.3 Responding to questions\nthe Director, Finance and Resources told the meeting that it would\ntake time and money to deliver significant savings. More effective\nprocurement, rationalised office accommodation and better use of\nICT were being considered. A consultancy would be looking to\nachieve significant future savings under Value for Money (Phase 2)\nand initiate project management across the Council. This would be\nprogressed by an in-house implementation team.
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58.4 Replying to queries she\nexplained the resources available to cover risks as set out in\nTable 4 of the report, pointing out that £1 million is\nproposed to be set aside for Looked After Children. Additional proposals for CYPT\nsavings will be presented at the 5 January CYPOSC budget\nmeeting.
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58.5 The Director explained\nthe Equalities Impact Assessment process that had been used for the\nbudget proposals. Information on this could be presented before the\nfinal budget report to Council is produced.
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58.6 Using an external firm\nto review single person Council Tax discounts was debated at length\nand questions on the approach to the process were answered in\ndetail. The report on\nCouncil Tax Collection Policy appeared as Item 60 later on this\nagenda.
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58.7 Asked about the\nanticipated borrowing for operational vehicles the Director said\nthat this would allow for savings and reduction in the carbon\nfootprint via a more central procurement policy. The Director was\nasked that this be reported to the Sustainability Partnership.
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58.8 Information as requested on payments made\nto consultancies would be made available.
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58.9 The Commission asked\nfor more information on budget pressures from staff sickness and\nabsence.
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58.10 Councillor Fallon-Khan highlighted\nthe budget proposals for Strategy and Governance Department. He\nexpressed his congratulations to the officers including the legal\nteam who were embracing new ways of working and working hard to\nachieve the best Value for Money within a tight budget at a time\nwhen income was falling.
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59.11 The Director, Strategy and\nGovernance answered questions on Members Allowances (inflationary\nincrease being proposed) and the deletion of two Assistant Director\nposts in the Department to give flatter\nmanagement structures (Head of Policy and Head of Improvement &\nOrganisational Development). A reduction of one post in the\nmedia team was proposed.
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58.12 He said Performance would be\nreshaped, and Information and Analysis and Policy brought\ntogether.
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58.13 Savings were planned by\namalgamating some software licences and other supplies and\nservices.
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58.14 There was concern about the\nproposed move of the Brighton History Centre. Councillor Randall as\nChair of Culture Tourism and Enterprise O&S Committee was asked\nto follow this up.
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58.15 RESOLVED
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a) That the following requests/issues\nbe followed up:
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b) That\n26 January 2010 OSC receive comments from the O&S Committees\nrelevant to their remits to be incorporated into a single scrutiny\nresponse to the budget.
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Report of the Director, Finance and\nResources
\nMinutes:
\n59.1 The Director of Finance and Resources\nintroduced the report on Vacancy Management, set out the key\ndeterminants for holding posts and confirmed that the list\ncomprised posts currently being held and not necessarily to be\ndeleted.
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59.2 The Commission asked that this\ninformation be included annually as part of the budget proposals\npapers.
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59.3 The Commission asked\nquestions regarding the potential implications of holding posts in\nareas such as libraries, food safety, adult social care and housing\nand requested that the O&S committees discuss the matter in\ndebating the budget proposals.
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59.4 RESOLVED
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a) OSC requests that this information be\nincluded annually as part of the scrutiny of budget proposals.
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b) That the overview and scrutiny committees\nbe recommended to question staff vacancies as part of the scrutiny\nof the budget proposals.
\nCouncil Tax Collection Policy PDF 202 KB
\n\nReport of the Director, Finance and\nResources
\nAdditional documents:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\nMinutes:
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60.1 The Head\nof Scrutiny handed around an updated version of the front page of\nthe report.
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60.2 The\nCabinet Member for Central Services was pleased that this service\narea had been called in for Overview. A lot of work had gone on to\nimprove the service to customers, however the extent of the work\nwas not well known. He was glad of the opportunity to thank the\nofficers in the award-winning Revenues and Benefits section for the\nimprovements that had been made.
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60.3 If\nresidents started to get into arrears they were encouraged to\ncontact the council at an early stage to try to make sustainable\npayment arrangements and avoid accumulating debt.
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60.4 The Head\nof Revenue and Benefits and Assistant Director, Customer Services\nintroduced the report and explained in answers to questions that\nlegislation did not allow for all residents to pay in 12-monthly\ninstalments. However this could be arranged under some\ncircumstances; for example if people contacted the service to say\nthey were having difficulties.
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60.5 There are\nclose working links between Revenues and Benefits, Adult Social\nCare, Housing and Pension Service and Electoral\nServices.
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60.6 A team of officers are\navailable to help in person, the small minority of people who do\narrive at court, as the result of having received a summons, to set\nup sustainable repayment arrangements.
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\n\n60.7Members\npraised the officers for a thorough and interesting\nreport.
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60.8 RESOLVED: that the report be\nnoted.
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Single Equality Scheme PDF 71 KB
\n\nReport of the Director, Strategy and\nGovernance
\nAdditional documents:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\nMinutes:
\n61.1 The Chairman welcomed the report on the\nfirst draft Single Equality Scheme as an example of pre-decision\nscrutiny.
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61.2 The Head of Equalities\nand Inclusion described the consultation that had taken place so\nfar and presented the new Action Plan that covered the next two\nyears.
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61.3 Answering questions the\nHead of Equalities and Inclusion said that the staff bus had been\nraised at a scoping meeting of the staff disabilities scrutiny\npanel. She would investigate disabled access and the design of\nmajor projects.
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61.4 At report\nRecommendation 2 (b) Members requested \n6-monthly rather than annual monitoring.
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61.5 In order to give fuller\nconsideration to the draft scheme an informal Commission meeting\nwas suggested and this was agreed.
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61.6 RESOLVED a) That an additional OSC meeting be held in early\nJanuary to review the draft Single Equality Scheme and provide\nfeedback to inform the final document.
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b) that members\nrequest a for 6-monthly monitoring report (not an annual report) as\nset out in paragraph 5 of this report.
\nCouncil's Forward Plan PDF 234 KB
\n\nMinutes:
\n62.1 The Council’s\nForward Plan was noted.
\nMinutes:
\n63.1 The Commission’s work plan was\nnoted.
\nItems to go Forward to Cabinet Member Meeting, Cabinet or Full Council
\n\nMinutes:
\n64.1 There were none.
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